BAHRAIN sign off from the 2016 Rio Olympic Games today with five athletes hoping to add to tally of a gold and a silver.
Distance running specialists Albert Rop and Birhanu Balew will be in action in the men’s 5,000m final early today morning (Sunday morning 3.30am Bahrain time) while teammates Alemu Bekele and Isaac Korir are in the men’s marathon, starting today at 3.30pm Bahrain time.
Meanwhile, wrestler Adam Batirov will be competing in the men’s freestyle 65kg category qualifying rounds, starting today at 2.30pm Bahrain time.
Rop qualified after finishing second in his semi-final heat in 13 minutes 24.95 seconds. Balew followed suit finishing fourth in 13:19.83.
Among the top contenders in the marathon race are defending Olympic champion Stephen Kiprotich from Uganda and current world leader Eliud Kipchoge.
Bekele heads into the event with a personal best time of two hours, 13 minutes and 28 seconds, which also his season’s best.
Korir’s best mark ever is 2:14.50, while his season’s best is two seconds slower.
Kipchoge’s world leading time is 2:03:05.
Batirov will be kicking off his medal quest directly in the quarter-final against Ikhtiyor Navruzov of Uzbekistan.
A victory will put Batirov in the semi-finals, also scheduled for today.